Download Above: Cold-water corals in the Whittard Canyon, Celtic Margin

Environment and Resources
Hotspot ecosystem research and
Man’s impact on European seas
The HERMIONE project (Hotspot Ecosystem Research
and Man’s Impact on European Seas) is a new
interdisciplinary project co-ordinated by the National
Oceanography Centre, Southampton. Funded by the
European Commission’s Framework 7 Programme, it
follows on the from the highly successful FP6 HERMES
project.
HERMIONE sets out to investigate Europe’s deep-sea
ecosystems in terms of their distribution, dimensions and
interconnections, and how they might be (or are already)
affected by global change – including climate change,
human impacts and large-scale events.
To achieve this, the HERMIONE Consortium comprises
38 partner institutions around Europe, including leading
experts on slopes and basins, cold-water corals,
seamount ecosystems, submarine canyons and
chemosynthetic ecosystems. In addition, the project
benefits from a dedicated team of socio-economists and
policy experts, who will work with our scientists to provide
knowledge to policymakers in support of deep-sea
governance and sustainable management of resources.
HERMIONE will examine deep-sea ecosystems around
Europe’s margins, including:
•The Arctic, because of its importance in monitoring climate
change;
•The Nordic margin with abundant cold‐water corals, extensive
hydrocarbon exploration and the Håkon Mosby mud volcano
natural laboratory;
•The Celtic margin with a mid latitude canyon, cold water corals
and the long term Porcupine Abyssal Plain monitoring site;
•The Portuguese margin with its highly diverse canyons;
•Seamounts in the Atlantic and W. Mediterranean as important
biodiversity hotspots potentially under threat;
•The mid-Atlantic Ridge to link cold seep to hot seep
chemosynthetic studies;
•Mediterranean cold water cascading sites in the Gulf of Lions and
outflows of the Adriatic and Aegean Seas.
At each study site, a range of multi- and interdisciplinary
observations, measurements and experiments will be
implemented to understand the ecosystems, their
relationship to the surrounding physical environment, and
how they might respond to change. As such, the project
is underpinned by an ambitious cruise programme that
involves over 1000 days of shiptime aboard Europe’s
research vessel fleet.
www.southampton.ac.uk
Above: Cold-water corals in the Whittard Canyon, Celtic Margin. Image taken by
ROV Isis during cruise JC36, summer 2009. Copyright NOCS.
The multidisciplinary research under HERMIONE is
designed to fill the knowledge gap about threatened
deep‐sea
marine
ecosystems
and
their
environments. It will reveal the impact of man on
these ecosystems, both directly - e.g. via bottom
trawling - and indirectly via climate change. The
results will feed national, regional (EU) and global
policy and decision makers with the information
needed to establish policies to ensure sustainable
use of the deep ocean.
For further information:
Prof. Philip Weaver
National Oceanography
Centre, Southampton
[email protected]
www.eu-hermione.net