All-Atlantic Projects

Marine research is playing a crucial role in wider efforts to preserve and support ocean sustainability. Innovative technology such as Blue Cloud offers us unique opportunities to understand, exploit and protect the ocean environment. The rise of the 'Blue Economy' concept needs to be accompanied by new technological applications for more effective marine research that will support efforts to minimise environmental risks and ecological catastrophes. The EU-funded Blue Cloud project proposes a practical approach to understand the potential that cloud-based open science offers to the research of the ocean. The project will develop a pilot cyber platform to collect and elaborate multidisciplinary data and provide analytical instruments as well as computing facilities.

ATLAS creates a dynamic new partnership between multinational industries, SMEs, governments and academia to assess the Atlantic’s deep-sea ecosystems and Marine Genetic Resources to create the integrated and adaptive planning products needed for sustainable Blue Growth. ATLAS will gather diverse new information on sensitive Atlantic ecosystems (incl. VMEs and EBSAs) to produce a step-change in our understanding of their connectivity, functioning and responses to future changes in human use and ocean climate. This is possible because ATLAS takes innovative approaches to its work and interweaves its objectives by placing business, policy and socioeconomic development at the forefront with science. ATLAS not only uses trans-Atlantic oceanographic arrays to understand and predict future change in living marine resources, but enhances their capacity with new sensors to make measurements directly relevant to ecosystem function. The ATLAS team has the track record needed to meet the project’s ambitions and has already developed a programme of 25 deep-sea cruises, with more pending final decision. These cruises will study a network of 12 Case Studies spanning the Atlantic including sponge, cold-water coral, seamount and mid-ocean ridge ecosystems. The team has an unprecedented track record in policy development at national, European and international levels. An annual ATLAS Science-Policy Panel in Brussels will take the latest results and Blue Growth opportunities identified from the project directly to policy makers. Finally, ATLAS has a strong trans-Atlantic partnership in Canada and the USA where both government and academic partners will interact closely with ATLAS through shared cruises, staff secondments, scientific collaboration and work to inform Atlantic policy development. ATLAS has been created and designed with our N American partners to foster trans-Atlantic collaboration and the wider objectives of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation.

The overarching objective of AtlantOS is to achieve a transition from a loosely-coordinated set of existing ocean observing activities to a sustainable, efficient, and fit-for-purpose Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System (IAOOS), by defining requirements and systems design, improving the readiness of observing networks and data systems, and engaging stakeholders around the Atlantic; and leaving a legacy and strengthened contribution to the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). AtlantOS will fill existing in-situ observing system gaps and will ensure that data are readily accessible and useable. AtlantOS will demonstrate the utility of integrating in-situ and Earth observing satellite based observations towards informing a wide range of sectors using the Copernicus Marine Monitoring Services and the European Marine Observation and Data Network and connect them with similar activities around the Atlantic. AtlantOS will establish a structured dialogue with funding bodies, including the European Commission, USA, Canada and other countries to ensure sustainability and adequate growth of IAOOS.

In integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), multiple aquatic species from different trophic levels are farmed together. Thus, waste from one species can be used as input (fertiliser and food) for another species. The EU-funded ASTRAL project will develop IMTA production chains for the Atlantic markets. Focusing on a regional challenge-based perspective, it will bring together labs in Ireland and Scotland (open offshore labs), South Africa (flow-through inshore) and Brazil (recirculation inshore) as well as Argentina (prospective IMTA lab). The aim is to increase circularity by as much as 60 % compared to monoculture baseline aquaculture and to boost revenue diversification for aquaculture producers. ASTRAL will share, integrate, and co-generate knowledge, technology and best practices, fostering a collaborative ecosystem along the Atlantic.

The EU-funded AtlantECO project aims to develop and apply a novel, unifying framework that provides knowledge-based resources for a better understanding and management of the Atlantic Ocean and its ecosystem services. AtlantECO will engage with citizens and actors from the industry and policy sectors in order to stimulate responsible behaviour and Blue Growth. The project focuses on three pillars of research: microbiomes, plastic and the plastisphere, and seascape connectivity. In pursuit of this goal, AtlantECO is bringing together experts and pioneers from Europe, South America and South Africa with the relevant resources, knowledge and experience.

The Southern Ocean regulates the global climate by controlling heat and carbon exchanges between the atmosphere and the ocean. The overall objective of SO-CHIC is to understand and quantify variability of heat and carbon budgets in the Southern Ocean through an investigation of the key processes controlling exchanges between the atmosphere, ocean and sea ice using a combination of observational and modelling approaches. SO-CHIC considers the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean as a natural laboratory both because of its worldwide importance in water-mass formation and because of the strong European presence in this sector already established at national levels, which allow to best leverage existing expertise, infrastructure, and observation network, around one single coordinated overall objective. SO-CHIC also takes the opportunity of the recent re-appearance of the Atlantic Sector Weddell Polynya to unveil its dynamics and global impact on heat and carbon cycles.

How do drivers of change (climate, acidification and societal development) and other pressures (exploitation and pollution) impact the state and resilience of the Atlantic Ocean ecosystems? How do they alter the distribution and sustainability of services provided to humans? To answer these questions, the EU-funded MISSION ATLANTIC project will bring together scientists, managers and stakeholders from Brazil, South Africa, North America and the EU. Applying the Atlantic Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEAs), which are developed at basin and regional scales, the project will identify ecosystem components most at risk from natural hazards and the consequences of human activities. To support these assessments, the project will map, model and assess Atlantic Ocean ecosystems, including their resilience and response to cumulative pressures.

The AquaVitae project is a consortium of 36 partners from Europe and countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean. They are working towards sustainable aquaculture production and the development of new low trophic species in aquaculture value chains, including macroalgae, Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), shellfish, echinoderms and finfish. Research activities will cover the whole aquaculture value chain, from analyzing market potential of new products to the policy framework. Possible impacts on the environment will be monitored, including the development of new sensors. AquaVitae plans to set up an industry and research network with particular attention on social responsibility and community outreach. Expecting to influence industry and society long-term, the project’s partners also plan to design good practice standards and provide training programs for specialists and the public, focusing on a circular economy and the zero-waste approach.

Human activities such as intense fishing and coastal development are altering the Atlantic marine ecosystems around the South and Tropical Atlantic. The EU-funded TRIATLAS project aims to study the current situation of the Atlantic Ocean’s marine ecosystem and predict future changes. A range of African, European, and South American institutions specialised in climate change, oceanography and social sciences, as well as local stakeholders will be engaged in the project. TRIATLAS will also work closely with relevant European Commission services. The project will observe the impact of pollution and climate change on the marine ecosystem to present the first prognosis for the next 40 years for the whole Atlantic. This will aid in sustainable management of human activities.

iAtlantic assesses health of deep and open-ocean Atlantic ecosystems. It scales and standardises measurements from different disciplines so ecosystem status can be assessed against multiple stressors and global change. It will predict where and when synergistic effects of global change and multiple stressors occur, and what implications these will have for society, economy and ocean health. iAtlantic focuses on 12 key areas of the ocean, using innovative approaches to upscale observations to address basin scale issues. Over 30 expeditions will study ecosystems most at risk of change. iAtlantic also builds human and technical capacities by creating iAtlantic Fellows through a capacity building programme including hands-on work at sea, technology transfer, analytical techniques and data interpretation training and a mentoring programme.