| Abstract | The Mediterranean is surrounded by two contrasting regions. The northern shore of the Mediterranean is surrounded by industrialized and semi-industrialized countries while, on its southern and eastern shores it is bordered by arid and desert regions (for example: Saharan and the Middle East deserts). The former acts as a continuous source of anthropogenic dominated aerosols all year around whilst semi-arid and arid regions act as a source of mineral dust in the form of episodic pulses (Kubilay and Saydam, 1995). Moreover, in terms of macro nutrients, the semi-enclosed Mediterranean Sea shows a unique character with its extremely oligotrophic waters. For these reasons, the Mediterranean Sea, particularly the eastern part, is a unique natural laboratory for oceanographers and atmospheric scientists. The impact of atmospheric inputs on nutrient poor ecosystems such as the Eastern Mediterranean can only be addressed by multi-disciplinary approach. The demand of such multi-disciplinary approach is one of the reasons that make this project essential.
The present project aims to:
1) Collect atmospheric (aerosol, dry and wet deposition) samples and determine total elemental (Al, Fe, Mn, Co, Ca, P, N, V, Ni, Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr and Sb), water-soluble major (Na+, NH4+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl-, NO3-, SO42-) and minor ionic (MSA, C2O42-) concentrations in their content,
2) Find out the soluble and bio-available fractions of macro (ortho-phosphate, poly- phosphate, sugar- phosphate, nitrate, amino-acids, urea etc.) and micro (anionic and cationic Fe, Mn, Co, Cd, Cu, Zn) nutrients associated with atmospheric (aerosol, dry and wet deposition) samples,
3) Obtain information about atmospheric processes using particle and gas ion chromatography analyzer,
4) Assess the origin and source areas of atmospheric aerosols, wet and dry deposition modes by applying air mass back trajectory, positive matrix factorization and potential source contribution function analysis,
5) Evaluate the impact of atmospheric deposition on ecosystem of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea surface waters by adding compositionally different atmospheric samples (through bio-available macro and micro nutrient, Chl-a, pigment, picoplankton, primary and bacterial production parameters),
6) Carry out field survey in order to evaluate the impact of atmospheric inputs on coastal and open waters during April, July and October.
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