Managing the necessary cross-disciplinary approach to organic farming research programmes: example of an organic bread programme.

This programme was developed within a cross-disciplinary approach resulting from five project proposals focusing on the organic wheat, flour and bread sector. More than 30 researchers from nine academic research laboratories, five technical centres, three development agencies and four industrial firms were involved in the project, covering a large area of expertise (from genetics to sociology). The programme adopted a reverse engineering approach, starting from consumer expectations and travelling, link-by-link, up the food chain. A qualitative study of consumer perception and expectations showed that organic bread was perceived as a natural, nourishing and healthy product, and that although its organoleptic characteristics (volume, texture, etc.) were a determining factor, they in no way totally accounted for the quality of the product. Nutritional value and safety must also be taken into consideration, especially in the case of occasional consumers. Based on this study, work was undertaken to find processing conditions to turn grain into flour and flour into bread, which would meet those expectations. New roller milling diagrams were developed at the industrial scale in order to produce flour with higher fibre and micronutrient contents. Studies of the bread-making process have shown that higher levels of lactic acid bacterium production in millstone flour are probably linked to its mineral content. A more acidic environment, due to sourdough fermentation, increases phytasic activity (improving digestibility) and increases mineral bioavailability, including magnesium. Based on those findings, prototype breads were developed and assessed by two panels of 60 people in two different regions of France. The results showed that it was possible to produce bread that satisfied consumers’ sensory and nutritional expectations by adapting the fractionation processes during bread-making according to the characteristics of the wheat. Finally, this programme resulted in a large number of publications and created a dynamic process between participants. It served as the backbone for several complementary satellite programmes that enhanced the original research while being integrated and supported by the project management committee

Acoustic and optical variations during rapid downward motion episodes in the deep north-western Mediterranean Sea

An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) was moored at the deep-sea site of the ANTARES neutrino telescope near Toulon, France, thus providing a unique opportunity to compare high-resolution acoustic and optical observations between 70 and 170 m above the sea bed at 2475 m. The ADCP measured downward vertical currents of magnitudes up to 0.03 m s-1 in late winter and early spring 2006. In the same period, observations were made of enhanced levels of acoustic reflection, interpreted as suspended particles including zooplankton, by a factor of about 10 and of horizontal currents reaching 0.35 m s-1. These observations coincided with high light levels detected by the telescope, interpreted as increased bioluminescence. During winter 2006 deep dense-water formation occurred in the Ligurian subbasin, thus providing a possible explanation for these observations. However, the 10-20 days quasi-periodic episodes of high levels of acoustic reflection, light and large vertical currents continuing into the summer are not direct evidence of this process. It is hypothesized that the main process allowing for suspended material to be moved vertically later in the year is local advection, linked with topographic boundary current instabilities along the rim of the 'Northern Current'.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure

Characterizing, modelling and understanding the climate variability of the deep water formation in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea

Observing, modelling and understanding the climate-scale variability of the deep water formation (DWF) in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea remains today very challenging. In this study, we first characterize the interannual variability of this phenomenon by a thorough reanalysis of observations in order to establish reference time series. These quantitative indicators include 31 observed years for the yearly maximum mixed layer depth over the period 1980–2013 and a detailed multi-indicator description of the period 2007–2013. Then a 1980–2013 hindcast simulation is performed with a fully-coupled regional climate system model including the high-resolution representation of the regional atmosphere, ocean, land-surface and rivers. The simulation reproduces quantitatively well the mean behaviour and the large interannual variability of the DWF phenomenon. The model shows convection deeper than 1000 m in 2/3 of the modelled winters, a mean DWF rate equal to 0.35 Sv with maximum values of 1.7 (resp. 1.6) Sv in 2013 (resp. 2005). Using the model results, the winter-integrated buoyancy loss over the Gulf of Lions is identified as the primary driving factor of the DWF interannual variability and explains, alone, around 50 % of its variance. It is itself explained by the occurrence of few stormy days during winter. At daily scale, the Atlantic ridge weather regime is identified as favourable to strong buoyancy losses and therefore DWF, whereas the positive phase of the North Atlantic oscillation is unfavourable. The driving role of the vertical stratification in autumn, a measure of the water column inhibition to mixing, has also been analyzed. Combining both driving factors allows to explain more than 70 % of the interannual variance of the phenomenon and in particular the occurrence of the five strongest convective years of the model (1981, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2013). The model simulates qualitatively well the trends in the deep waters (warming, saltening, increase in the dense water volume, increase in the bottom water density) despite an underestimation of the salinity and density trends. These deep trends come from a heat and salt accumulation during the 1980s and the 1990s in the surface and intermediate layers of the Gulf of Lions before being transferred stepwise towards the deep layers when very convective years occur in 1999 and later. The salinity increase in the near Atlantic Ocean surface layers seems to be the external forcing that finally leads to these deep trends. In the future, our results may allow to better understand the behaviour of the DWF phenomenon in Mediterranean Sea simulations in hindcast, forecast, reanalysis or future climate change scenario modes. The robustness of the obtained results must be however confirmed in multi-model studies

Analysis of two mesoscale eddies in the Southern Ionian and Cretan Basins in 2006

38th CIESM Congress, Istanbul, Turkey.-- 1 pageDuring the EGYPT-1 campaign in April 2006, two mesoscale eddies, a Libyan eddy and the Ierapetra 2005, have been sampled in detailmainly with CTD casts. The goal of this study is to compare these hydrographic measurements with results of two simulations donewith high resolution models developed in the framework of the Mercator project. Focus is on the generation, the vertical water massdistribution, and the drift of these eddie

Impact of open-ocean convection on particle fluxes and sediment dynamics in the deep margin of the Gulf of Lions.

Abstract. The deep outer margin of the Gulf of Lions and the adjacent basin, in the western Mediterranean Sea, are regularly impacted by open-ocean convection, a major hydrodynamic event responsible for the ventilation of the deep water in the western Mediterranean Basin. However, the impact of open-ocean convection on the flux and transport of particulate matter remains poorly understood. The variability of water mass properties (i.e., temperature and salinity), currents, and particle fluxes were monitored between September 2007 and April 2009 at five instrumented mooring lines deployed between 2050 and 2350-m depth in the deepest continental margin and adjacent basin. Four of the lines followed a NW-SE transect, while the fifth one was located on a sediment wave field to the west. The results of the main, central line SC2350 ("LION") located at 42 02.50 N, 4 410 E, at 2350-m depth, show that open-ocean convection reached midwater depth ( 1000-m depth) during winter 2007-2008, and reached the seabed ( 2350-m depth) during winter 2008-2009. Horizontal currents were unusually strong with speeds up to 39 cm s−1 during winter 2008-2009. The measurements at all 5 different locations indicate that mid-depth and near-bottom currents and particle fluxes gave relatively consistent values of similar magnitude across the study area except during winter 2008-2009, when near-bottom fluxes abruptly increased by one to two orders of magnitude. Particulate organic carbon contents, which generally vary between 3 and 5 %, were abnormally low ( 1 %) during winter 2008-2009 and approached those observed in surface sediments (0.6 %). Turbidity profiles made in the region demonstrated the existence of a bottom nepheloid layer, several hundred meters thick, and related to the resuspension of bottom sediments. These observations support the view that open-ocean deep convection events in the Gulf of Lions can cause significant remobilization of sediments in the deep outer margin and the basin, with a subsequent alteration of the seabed likely impacting the functioning of the deep-sea ecosystem

Tracking dynamic mesoscale structures in the Algerian Basin during operation ELISA (1997-1998) by satellite thermal imagery (NOAA/AVHRR): Potential obstacles to automatic recognition

The amplitude of the variability associated with dynamic mesoscale phenomena is most often greater than that associated with seasonal variability. The role of these phenomena is of the utmost importance as they modify the general circulation of the water masses, and thus, potentially, the circulation in the coastal zone too. But in situ observations at mesoscale require fine spatiotemporal sampling, requiring much effort. Under these conditions, however, NOAA/AVHRR thermal satellite imagery is an extremely efficient tool, as it routinely provides information on a spatial domain over thousands of kilometres, and can generate high-resolution long-term time series. Providing somne precautions are taken, thermal signatures can be interpreted in terms of dynamical structures and associated currents. The use of this satellite imagery within the operation ELISA (1997-1998) provides an opportunity to review the potential limitations to an automatic recognition (detection and tracking) of such mesoscale structures