ICCC Impact of Climate Change on the biogeochemistry of Contaminants in the Mediterranean sea PRIN 2017 - 20172017 ZRPNKX (DTA.AD002.527)

Thematic area

Earth system science and environmental technologies

Project area

Structure responsible for the research project

Istituto per lo studio degli impatti Antropici e Sostenibilità in ambiente marino (IAS)

Project manager

MARIO SPROVIERI
Phone number: 092440600
Email: MARIO.SPROVIERI@CNR.IT

Abstract

Global changes are having profound effects on the world's oceans. Two of the main consequences of the increase in greenhouse concentrations on the marine environment are ocean warming, driven by the atmosphere global warming, and ocean acidification, driven by the dissolution in water of carbon dioxide. To date, the oceans have absorbed over 80% of the heat added to the atmosphere by climate change and about 40% of the carbon dioxide released by anthropogenic activities. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2013) highlights the Mediterranean as one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impacts of global warming, with 2080-2100 scenarios accounting for an average surface temperatures increase in the range of 2.2 and 5.1°C and a decrease in pH of about 0.3 units. For the same period, models indicate pronounced rainfall regime changes in the Mediterranean, and estimate that precipitation over lands might vary between -4% and -27%. These changes could induce crucial modifications in the main biogeochemical cycles and in photosynthetic processes that sustain life in the oceans, with consequences on the functioning of marine ecosystems. Furthermore, those changes

Goals

The project proposes an innovative and systematic analysis on the effects of climate change on: i) the Mediterranean circulation, ii) the distribution of plankton, organic matter and main components of C,N,P, Si, biogeochemical cycles, iii) the distribution and chemical speciation of Cd, Cu and Hg, which in their bioavailable forms and relatively high concentrations induce toxic effects on the ecosystem. An ensemble of numerical models will be used to simulate the evolution of hydrodynamic and biogeochemical variables up to 2100 and to investigate and quantify, supported by a wide spectrum of laboratory and in-field experiments, the effects of climate change on the chemical speciation of Cu, Cd and Hg in seawater. Results will include space distribution maps of physical, biogeochemical, and contaminant properties for several representative climatic scenarios, at basin scale and for 3 specific subareas, investigated through field experiments and higher resolution numerical models. The integration of lab and field observations with deterministic and stochastic models coupled to oceanographic models will provide an innovative approach to capture and investigate the biogeochemistry and

Start date of activity

03/11/2019

Keywords

ICCC, PRIN, PRIN

Last update: 30/04/2024