| Abstract | Aim: The methodological approach to achieve the objectives includes: (1) three to four field experiments during selected sampling periods (before and during trawling season, and during stormy conditions), (2) on-line monitoring of the resuspension events (instrumented buoys, sediment trap, current meters), (3) accurate sampling of benthic boundary layer using submersible and in situ high volume filtering pump, (4) a series of conventional techniques such as CTD-Rossete sampling, benthic landers deployment, side scan sonar, etc., (5) numerical modelling, (6) dedicated laboratory experiments. Objective: The major objective of the INTERPOL is to study and integrate, for the first time, the effects of natural and anthropogenically induced resuspension on the transport, cycling and impact of pollutants, key elements and nutrients in the shelf ecosystem of the Mediterranean. In particular, the INTERPOL project intends: (1) to study the effects of stormy (natural) and trawling (anthropogenic) resuspension (including particulate, dissolved and colloidal forms) on the cycling and regional budgets of carbon, nutrients, key elements (S, N, P, Si, Ca, Al, Fe, Mn, Zn, Ba, Cd, Hg, Pb, Cr, As, etc.), and selected organic micropollutants (Hydrocarbons, PAHs, PCBs, organo-tin and mercury compounds, selected pesticides (triazines)); (2) to examine their synergistic effects in the marine ecosystem (biogeochemical processes, like productivity, benthic-pelagic coupling, toxic blooms, in the deep euphotic zone and in the sediment-water interface); (3) to estimate the ecotoxicological effects of resuspended pollutants on two commercial species from fisheries (trawling) and aquaculture. |
