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On its western side, the Bay of Biscay is located at the limit between the North Atlan­tic sub-polar and subtropical gyres, while the eastern and southern sides are bounded by land with a large continental shelf to the east and a narrow one to the south. The sharp continental slope results in a separation between hydrological processes taking place on and off the shelf. On the shelf, mesoscale hydrodynamic features, such as coastal upwellings, river plumes, and freshwater lenses, mostly depend upon regional climate forcing rather than upon the general oceanic circulation. Here, we review how three key regional climate and hydrological forcing factors (sea surface temperature, windspeed and river run-off) have varied during the past decade in comparison with multi-decadal historical records. The 1990s were characterized by warmer temperature and windier conditions than during the previous century, while the river run-off is slightly lower than average and highly variable. The Bay of Biscay lies between two regions where the responses to the North Atlantic Oscillation are opposite, and, as a result, it is expected that the NAO would only account for a very small fraction of the variability observed in temperature, windspeed, and river run-off in this region. Our results confirm this hypothesis.Description not yet available. Article from Marine Science Symposia Vol. 219 - "Hydrobiological variability in the ICES Area, 1990-1999", symposium held in Edinburgh, 8-10 August 2001. To access the remaining articles please click on the keyword "MSS Vol. 219".

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Six Joined Research activity Projects (JRAPS have been achieved within JERICO-NEXT. These projects have been set up to tackle some of the complex technical and scientifical issues associated with the implementation of Coastal Ocean Observing over a wide range of environmental conditions and spatiotemporal scales. The topics of these projects have been defined in relation with some of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive: JRAP 1: Biodiversity of plankton, harmful algal blooms and eutrophication, JRAP 2: Monitoring changes in microbenthic biodiversity, assessing potential environmental controls and functional consequences JRAP 3: Occurrence of contaminants in Northern coastal waters and biological responses JRAP 4: 4D characterization of trans-boundary hydrography and transport JRAP 5: Coastal carbon fluxes and biogeochemical cycling JRAP 6: Operational oceanography and forecasting In its first part, this document reports the work led in the framework of the JRAP activities during the whole JERICO-NEXT project. Itn its second part, it also shows how the experience gained from JRAP activities contributed to the elaboration of the JERICO-RI science strategy, which is presented in JERICO-NEXT D1.2. JRAP 1 explored different automated or semi-automated innovative approaches for improving the temporal and spatial resolution of phytoplankton observations based on different plarforms: research cruises, fixed platforms, moorings and/or ships of opportunity. Based on seven different research actions, it clearly showed how the combination of these techniques allowed to reach new insights into the functional diversity and photosynthetic status of phytoplankton communities in different environmental and hydrological conditions (i.e., from oligotrophic and mesotrophic to eutrophic conditions, and from brackish to saline systems). JRAP 1 nevertheless also identified gaps and underlined the necessity in continuing technological developments to improve the resolution and understanding of phytoplankton dynamics, in connection with the requirements of environmental managing at a regional, national and international level. JRAP 2 tackled three main questions: (1) Do alternative techniques provide sound surrogates for the classical analysis of benthic macrofauna composition? (2) Irrespective of the nature of the disturbance, does the relationship between disturbance intensity and benthic diversity follow the same pattern? and (3) What are the functional consequences of a benthic macrofauna diversity loss on ecosystem functioning? JRAP 2 supported the ability of surface and sediment profile imaging and 16S rRNA metabarcoding of benthic microfauna in detecting the impact of disturbance gradients on benhic diversity. JRAP 2 also showed that the effects of disturbance on benthic diversity are not necessarily gradual and may result from non a priori identified disturbance sources. The functional consequences of biodiversity loss were assessed in only one of the four actions achieved by JRAP 2. Results showed no clear effect of benthic macrofauna species richness on sedimented organic matter remineralization. JRAP 3 tackled four main questions: (1) Can existing integrative sampling methods (i.e. passive samplers) be effectively used in combination with existing CRI to obtain reliable data on marine chemical pollution? (2) Can CRI be used to support exploratory monitoring of marine pollution to identify new chemical contaminants? (3) Can the drivers of spatial distribution of chemical contaminants in coastal waters be assessed using data from infrastructure sensors and spatial analyses? and (4) Is there a co-variance between contaminant signals and biological responses? JRAP 3 results suggested that passive samplers were able to report expected gradients of variability in measured concentrations and could now be routinely used to address monitoring of chemical pollution in coastal areas. They also confirmed the benefit of using FerryBox based sampling to carry out monitoring of contaminants in coastal water. JRAP 3 reported no simple overall correlation between the levels of detected chemicals and the distance of the sampling sites to the coast. JRAP 3, however, developed a specific spatial analysis allowing for correlating an index of anthropic impact with measured contaminant concentrations. JRAP 3 results at last showed the concordance between selected microbial molecular markers of hydrocarbon pollution and the sum of 29 Persistant Aromatic Hydrocarbons, which highlighted the possibility of using chemical and molecular biomarkers to retrieve information of pollution influence on microbial community assemblages. JRAP 4 tackled three main questions: (1) Can we use JERICO infrastructures to study the 4D shelf/slope circulation and transports and their time variability? (2) What is the impact of the ocean transport on the distribution of floating and dissolved matter? and (3) How can we maximize the impact of the JERICO-RI for the assessment of coastal transport? JRAP 4 showed the benefit of new high-resolution observations through new deployments (including HF radars and innovating moorings) for the upgrading of current coastal observatories. It successfully tested several HF radar data advanced processing and analysing procedures. JRAP 4 successfully performed several ad-hoc experiments to quantify the impact of ocean transport on the distribution of biological quantities and pollution. JRAP 4 finally underlined the interest of Observing System Simulation Experiments to optimize existing coastal ocean observing network and to better design future observatories. JRAP 5 tackled three main questions: (1) What kind of role European Coastal Ocean and Marginal Seas have on the marine carbon system? (2) What is the role of biological activity on marine carbon uptake or release? and (3) How should the integrated C-cycle monitoring be organized in coastal regions? JRAP 5 showed the high regional variability and regional differences in pCO2 dynamics between areas, which could either constiture a carbon sinks or sources. Based on a limited number of stations and VOS routes, JRAP 5 concluded that biological activity had a significant role on the marine carbon balance. At last, JRAP 5 stressed the need for better coordination between coastal carbonate system observations, with frequent instrument comparisons. JRAP 6 tackled four main questions through the implementation of coastal model assessment studies and observing system experiments in different areas of European coastal waters: (1) How accurate are our ocean models in coastal areas? (2) How could we improve these models? (3) What is the impact of coastal observations on the model performance after data assimilation? and (4) What would be the impact of potentially future additional observations? Overall, models were found to be able to properly reproduce the spatio-temporal scales of sea surface current variability. However, JRAP 6 also identified gaps in the performances of current hydrodynamical models. JRAP 6 evaluated the sensitivity of model results to the horizontal resolution, model parameters, surface forcing or to the treatment of open boundary conditions, providing solutions to improve them. Observing System Experiments allowed evaluating the positive impact of the assimilation of glider, FerryBox, fixed moorings and HF radar observations on model performances. Observing System Simulation Experiments were also performed to evaluate the impact of future observing systems. Overall, and considering the specificities of coastal situations in European waters, Overall, JRAP6 was able to demonstrate the usefulness of JERICO-NEXT coastal observations in distinct environments, leading to an improvement of the understanding and of the performance of high-resolution numerical models implemented in the coastal European ocean. Through the gains of experience generated within its six JRAPs, WP4 contributed to the five pillars of the JERICO-RI scientific strategy, namely: Pillar 1: Developping innovative technologies for Coastal Ocean Observing and modelling Pillar 2: Enhancing integrated Coastal Ocean Monitoring Pillar 3: Interfacing with other ocean observing initiatives operating at different spatiotemporal scales Pillar 4: Fostering societal impact for a larger community of stakeholders Pillar 5: Establishing observing objectives, strategy and implementation at the regional level Pillar 1: All JRAPs clearly confirmed that the development of innovative technologies constitutes a major key point for the future of Coastal Ocean Observing. They more specifically showed that Technology Readiness Levels differ between disciplines and recommended to carry out specific developments for better balancing the disciplinary scope of (semi)automated observations. JRAPs also underlined the necessity of developing multidisciplinary platforms to enhance the emergence of holistic observation. They stressed the importance of modelling in addressing the spatial heterogeneity and temporal dynamics of physical processes taking place in the Coastal Ocean and the strong interest in putting a focus on the development of biological/biogeochemical models and on their coupling with physical models. Pillar 2: JRAPs identified the harmonization of observations as a key issue for Coastal Ocean Observing. They however also acknowledged limitations and plead for for the definition of an optimal threshold between homogenization and the consideration of regional specificities while designing a future European Coastal Ocean Observing infrastructure. They more specifically pinpointed that such a threshold is likely to differ according to the nature of tackled environmental issues. The implementation of multidisciplinarity within the different JRAPs was overall considered as unsatisfactory. Two ways forward were identified: (1) developing new multidisciplinary platforms allowing for high frequency data acquisition, and (2) a priori optimizing monitoring strategies. It was also stressed that a threshold should be reached between an a priori optimization (which is necessary based on current knowledge) and a certain degree of ability to detect the impact of non-foreseen changes/processes when designing future monitoring strategies. Pillar 3: All JRAPs involved tight interactions with other observing initiatives consisting in observing infrastructures and/or research projects. The interactions with other observing initiatives proved satisfactory. They were, nevertheless, facilitated by the small spatiotemporal scales addressed by most JRAPs and it is anticipated that future interactions operating at larger scales would benefit a strong coordination of monitoring strategies. The interactions with research projects sometimes proved odd and should be defined over a long-term perspective as well. Pillar 4: Addressed topics clearly varied both within and between JRAPs. This heterogeneity refers both to the nature (i.e., fundamental vs applied) and the spatial scale (i.e., from the local to the pan-european level) of addressed issues. Overall, it was stressed that such a diversity should clearly be taken in consideration while designing a future pan-European Coastal Ocean Observing infrastructure and suggested that stakeholders should be deeper involved in the definition of the products derived from Coastal Ocean Observing so that they become better suited in tackling their concerns. Pillar 5: Most JRAPs were implemented at a sub regional spatial scale and their designs mostly consisted of complementary actions achieved at different sites representative of a large set of environmental conditions and issues. This structuration showed clear limitation relative to the implementation of the first four pillars of the JERICO-RI strategies. It was therefore suggested that the systems and tools developed within JERICO-NEXT could become part of regional systems and most JRAPs therefore recommanded the design and implementation of a future Coastal Ocean Observing insfrastructure as a network of Augmented Regional Coastal Observatories.

High Frequency Radar (HFR) is a land-based remote sensing instrument offering a unique insight to coastal ocean variability, by providing synoptic, high frequency and high resolution data at the ocean atmosphere interface. HFRs have become invaluable tools in the field of operational oceanography for measuring surface currents, waves and winds, with direct applications in different sectors and an unprecedented potential for the integrated management of the coastal zone. In Europe, the number of HFR networks has been showing a significant growth over the past 10 years, with over 50 HFRs currently deployed and a number in the planning stage. There is also a growing literature concerning the use of this technology in research and operational oceanography. A big effort is made in Europe toward a coordinated development of coastal HFR technology and its products within the framework of different European and international initiatives. One recent initiative has been to make an up-to-date inventory of the existing HFR operational systems in Europe, describing the characteristics of the systems, their operational products and applications. This paper offers a comprehensive review on the present status of European HFR network, and discusses the next steps toward the integration of HFR platforms as operational components of the European Ocean Observing System, designed to align and integrate Europe's ocean observing capacity for a truly integrated end-to-end observing system for the European coasts.

The quest for Interoperability within Ocean Sciences.

Neptune Canada : live, allowing people everywhere in the world to access realtime and archived data via the Internet. This is a major step on the development of Ocean Sciences.

MoMAR/D A demonstration mission to establish a multidisciplinary observatory at hydrothermal vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The fate and transport of contaminants in estuaries is still not completely understood due to the extremely high physico-chemical variability in these environments. In this report, a 3D hydrodynamic model has been applied for estuary modelling to predict tidal flows, salinity and temperature distributions; and for the fate and transport of Polybrominated Dyphenyl Ethers (PBDEs). With this goal in mind, a hypothetical estuary system was constructed that consisted of a reach with a length of 26 km. Consequently, the hydrology of this estuary system was described primarily by the tides and the freshwater influx. The contaminant PBDE-100 was assumed to enter by means of river transport, exchange with sediments and atmospheric inputs. Two simulations were undertaken, namely one of three days and the other of one year, in order to observe how and if the model realistically had simulated the fate transport of PBDE-100 in the hypothetical estuary system. The simulations performed have shown that the model is able to represent adequately the hydrodynamic aspects as well as the typical temperature and salinity distributions. Concerning the contaminant distribution the model shows the importance of atmospheric processes as well as the role of sediments as, in this case, a source of contaminant. The next step will consist on applying this model to a real estuary and validate it with experimental data., JRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resources

On the French continental shelf of the Bay of Biscay the variability of the surface salinity distribution has been mainly investigated at the seasonal and inter-annual scales. Here, new mesoscale features such as lower-salinity lenses observed in model results are investigated by hydrological measurements acquired during 8 cruises (1997-2000). These lenses are 50-80 km wide and ~30 m thick and occur during westerly to northerly wind events that push offshore the less saline water of river plumes. These water masses detached from the coast are replaced with upwelled saltier water at the coast, so coastal upwelling is often observed at the same time along Landes and southern Brittany coasts. We show that in addition to the influence of seasonal and inter-annual variability of the wind and river outflows, short term meteorological variability may drive mesoscale structures on this continental shelf., La salinidad de la plataforma continental francesa del golfo de Vizcaya fue estudiada a escalas anuales e interanuales principalmente. A partir de medidas efectuadas durante ocho campañas marinas (1997- 2000) y del empleo de modelos matemáticos han podido estudiarse nuevas estructuras hidrológicas aisladas de menor salinidad en forma de lentejas. Estas lentejas han medido entre 50 y 80 km de diámetro y 30 m de espesor. Este fenómeno ha sido observado durante, o después, de fuertes vientos del cuadrante oeste o noroeste que favorecen el desplazamiento del agua desalada de las plumas fluviales hacia el mar abierto. Al separarse de la pluma, estas masas de agua son remplazadas por otra, mas salada, que resurge en la zona costera. De esta manera, puedan observarse simultáneamente afloramientos costeros en las regiónes francesas de Landes y del sur de Bretaña. Se muestra que, además de la variabilidad anual e interanual de los vientos y del caudal de los ríos, los fenómenos meteorológicos a corto plazo pueden condicionar las estructuras hidrológicas de la meso escala de la plataforma continental.

The coastal area is the most productive and dynamic environment of the world ocean, offering significant resources and services for mankind. As exemplified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it has a tremendous potential for innovation and growth in blue economy sectors. Due to the inherent complexity of the natural system, the answers to many scientific and societal questions are unknown, and the impacts of the cumulative stresses imposed by anthropogenic pressures (such as pollution) and climate change are difficult to assess and forecast. A major challenge for the scientific community making observations of the coastal marine environment is to integrate observations of Essential Ocean Variables for physical, biogeochemical, and biological processes on appropriate spatial and temporal scales, and in a sustained and scientifically based manner. Coastal observations are important for improving our understanding of the complex biotic and abiotic processes in many fields of research such as ecosystem science, habitat protection, and climate change impacts. They are also important for improving our understanding of the impacts of human activities such as fishing and aquaculture, and underpin risk monitoring and assessment. The observations enable us to better understand ecosystems and the societal consequences of overfishing, disease (particularly shellfish), loss of biodiversity, coastline withdrawal, and ocean acidification, amongst others. The European coastal observing infrastructure JERICO-RI, has gathered and organized key communities embracing new technologies and providing a future strategy, with recommendations on the way forward and on governance. Particularly, the JERICO community acknowledges that the main providers of coastal observations are: (1) research infrastructures, (2) national monitoring programs, and (3) monitoring activities performed by marine industries. The scope of this paper is to present some key elements of our coastal science strategy to build it on long term. It describes how the pan-European JERICO community is building an integrated and innovation-driven coastal research infrastructure for Europe. The RI embraces emerging technologies which will revolutionize the way the ocean is observed. Developments in biotechnology (molecular and optical sensors, omics-based biology) will soon provide direct and online access to chemical and biological variables including in situ quantification of harmful algae and contaminants. Using artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things will soon provide operational platforms and autonomous and remotely operated smart sensors. Embracing key technologies, high quality open access data, modeling and satellite observations, it will support sustainable blue growth, warning and forecasting coastal services and healthy marine ecosystem. JERICO-FP7 is the European 7th framework project named JERICO under Grant Agreement No. 262584. JERICO-NEXT is the European Horizon-2020 project under Grant Agreement No. 654410. JERICO-RI is the European coastal observing research infrastructure established and structured through JERICO-FP7 and JERICO-NEXT, and beyond.