Description of the organization
The CSIC is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest one in Europe. Belonging to the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and technological progress. The CSIC is formed by 126 institutes distributed all around the country and undertakes projects covering all fields of knowledge. The Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas de Vigo (IIM) hosts a wide range of oceanographic analytical facilities and a 25 meters long vessel, which allow the development of interdisciplinary research in marine sciences. In particular, its Oceanography Department has experience in field-orientated research, both in coastal and open ocean systems, covering key issues of the chemistry (carbon and nutrients cycling) and biology (microplankton ecology, primary production models) of marine ecosystems. The Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía (ICMAN) also develops research projects at the coastal fringe and at basin scale. Its infrastructures include a remote sensing service for ocean colour and several analytical facilities. Its Department of Ecology and Coastal Management has a broad experience in the study of the physical-biological coupling in several marine eco-regions, such as the Gulf of Cádiz, Strait of Gibraltar, Alboran Sea and the Antarctic. Both CSIC institutes have been actively involved in EU projects, such as MORENA, OMEGA, CANIGO, CAVASSOO, SESAME, CARBOOCEAN, CARBOCHANGE, INGOS, PERSEUS, MareFRAME ATLANTOS and FarFish.
Expertise particularly relevant for the project
The IIM group has been a pioneer in determining the capacity of the ocean to take up anthropogenic carbon. The magnitude and dynamics of the uptake has been assessed in different regions, including the entire Atlantic Ocean. Through its participation in national and European funded projects, numerous high impact publications have been released, mainly dealing with the improvement of methodological techniques to estimate the oceanic withdrawal of anthropogenic CO2 but also with the characterization of CO2 transport by water masses and mixing processes along with the study of the air-sea CO2 exchange fluxes variability. The ICMAN group research interests lie within the field of marine biogeochemistry. Its members have been involved in a a high number of projects funded either by the EC or national agencies, whose main region of study has been the Mediterranean Sea. The expertise of the group will be then applied to assess the influence of the Mediterranean flow on the biogeochemical cycles of the North Atlantic.
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