Scientific management of Mediterranean coastal zone: A hybrid ocean forecasting system for oil spill and search and rescue operations

Jordi, Antoni et al.The oil spill from Prestige tanker showed the importance of scientifically based protocols to minimize the impacts on the environment. In this work, we describe a new forecasting system to predict oil spill trajectories and their potential impacts on the coastal zone. The system is formed of three main interconnected modules that address different capabilities: (1) an operational circulation sub-system that includes nested models at different scales, data collection with near-real time assimilation, new tools for initialization or assimilation based on genetic algorithms and feature-oriented strategic sampling; (2) an oil spill coastal sub-system that allows simulation of the trajectories and fate of spilled oil together with evaluation of coastal zone vulnerability using environmental sensitivity indexes; (3) a risk management sub-system for decision support based on GIS technology. The system is applied to the Mediterranean Sea where surface currents are highly variable in space and time, and interactions between local, sub-basin and basin scale increase the non-linear interactions effects which need to be adequately resolved at each one of the intervening scales. Besides the Mediterranean Sea is a complex reduced scale ocean representing a real scientific and technological challenge for operational oceanography and particularly for oil spill response and search and rescue operations. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer Reviewe

Device for holding and closing oceanographic cylinders

[ES] La presente invención trata de un dispositivo de sujeción y cierre de botellas oceanográficas, destinado a sumergirse verticalmente respecto a la superficie del mar, ríos o embalses y recoger muestras de agua a diferentes profundidades cerrando todas las botellas al mismo tiempo de manera rápida y sencilla. Esto permite caracterizar la variación vertical de los parámetros ambientales que se muestreen en cada caso. El dispositivo comprende un soporte (1), unas botellas (5) vinculables al soporte (1), una pluralidad de pivotes (9) configurados para retener las tapas (8) de las botellas (5) en una posición inicial de retención mediante un elemento de unión exterior (17) y en una situación de liberación los pivotes (9) giran y cierran dichas tapas (8) y un mecanismo de retención (29) que comprende una pletina (19) deslizable longitudinalmente por la primera guía superior (3) que retiene todos los pivotes (9) en una situación de retención.[EN] The present invention deals with a holding and closing device for oceanographic bottles, intended to be submerged vertically with respect to the surface of the sea, rivers or reservoirs and collect water samples at different depths, closing all the bottles at the same time in a quick and simple manner. This allows characterizing the vertical variation of the environmental parameters that are sampled in each case. The device comprises a support (1), some bottles (5) that can be linked to the support (1), a plurality of pivots (9) configured to retain the caps (8) of the bottles (5) in an initial retention position by means of a external union element (17) and in a released situation the pivots (9) rotate and close said covers (8) and a retaining mechanism (29) comprising a plate (19) that slides longitudinally along the first upper guide (3) that retains all pivots (9) in a holding situation.NoConsejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasA1 Solicitud de patente con informe sobre el estado de la técnic

Marine Technology developed at IMEDEA-TMOOS

Trabajo presentado en EOF2010, I Encuentro de la Oceanografía Física Española, celebrada del 13 al 15 de octubre de 2010 en Barcelona (España), y organizada por el Centro Mediterráneo de Investigaciones Marinas y Medioambientales del CSIC (ICM-CSIC) y el Laboratorio de Ingeniería Marítima de la Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya (LIM-UPC)The advances in computation, electronic and mechanic technologies have allowed the implementation of new sensors and platforms to monitor the oceanic environment. The Marine Technologies, Operational Oceanography and Sustainability Department of IMEDEA has been involved during the last seven years in the study and design of different marine technologies to develop innovative devices for marine research. Several approaches have been implemented using commercial off the shelf components (COTS), and reducing costs and complexity of the overall design to develop low cost platforms for the coastal and oceanic environment. New observing platforms such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV), and low‐cost Drifters (based on mobile network communications) have been implemented and tested obtaining good results, allowing its transfer to the commercial environment through an IMEDEA spin off, Albatros Marine Technologies. In this work we present some of the designs and main results obtained from this technology development and describe in more detail the most recently platforms being developed: satellite‐based drifters for open shore ocean measurements, and a new AUV for coastal monitoring, designed to minimize its cost and sizePeer Reviewe

Mammalian recombination hot spots: properties, control and evolution.

Recombination, together with mutation, generates the raw material of evolution, is essential for reproduction and lies at the heart of all genetic analysis. Recent advances in our ability to construct genome-scale, high-resolution recombination maps and new molecular techniques for analysing recombination products have substantially furthered our understanding of this important biological phenomenon in humans and mice: from describing the properties of recombination hot spots in male and female meiosis to the recombination landscape along chromosomes. This progress has been accompanied by the identification of trans-acting systems that regulate the location and relative activity of individual hot spots