Eutrophication in marine waters: harmonization of MSFD methodological standards at EU level

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) establishes the framework for the protection, conservation and sustainable use of the marine environment at the Union level. Because of its potential negative effects on the marine water quality, eutrophication is one of the criteria assessed under MSFD. This report presents the results of the joint work between JRC and a network of Member States (MS) eutrophication designated experts to assess the level of harmonization in Eutrophication methodological standards and threshold definition at regional and EU level. The information compiled at regional and national level showed that although methodologies are defined already for all the criteria, the degree of harmonization of methodological approaches across MS and regions is in some cases very low. In addition further developments are needed for some regions to agree on common indicators and threshold values. Based on these results the report highlights existing gaps and proposes recommendations to improve the eutrophication assessment framework at EU level.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

PROMOTION OF ENGINEERING IN SOCIETY: NEW IDEAS IN TEACHING TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION

Since 1998, Presentation Techniques- a course on technical communication has been taught at the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology, Warsaw University of Technology. Recently, a new project assignment has been added to the course. Each student is asked to prepare a one-page leaflet or develop a simple web page that reports on the design work he/she has done in a prerequisite course. The fundamental assumption is that this document is addressed to general public; a target reader is defined as a high school student whose interests are outside engineering. Observations related to this didactic experiment are presented

A study of episodic events in the Baltic Sea - combined in situ and satellite observations

A project was developed concerning the operational system of surveillanceand the recording of episodic events in the Baltic Sea.In situ information was to be combined with multi-sensory satelliteimagery to determine the extent of algal blooms, to track their evolutionand that of rapid environmental events like hydrological fronts. The mainelement of the system was an autonomous Ferry Box module on a ferry operatingbetween Gdynia and Karlskrona, automatically measuring temperature,salinity and chlorophyll <it>a</it> fluorescence. At pre-selected locations,discrete water samples were collected, which were subsequently analysedfor their phytoplankton content, and algal hepato- and neurotoxins;they were also used in toxicity tests with <it>Artemia franciscana</it>}