A water temperature data logger attached to an offshore buoy anchor line.

The first continuous one-year set of water column temperature values has recently been collected by the International Ocean Institute-Malta Operational Centre’s Physical Oceanography Unit (PO Unit) at the University.

The data comprises a collection of sea temperatures at different depths at selected locations in the Maltese coastal waters.

Similar data is being collected by a network of 21 research teams from 15 countries in the Mediterranean. To collect the data, temperature loggers were deployed along a vertical profile in the water column, at depths ranging between five and 40 metres.

In Malta, these loggers are currently deployed on two buoys a few kilometres offshore from Dwejra in Gozo and from Munxar Point to the southeast of Malta. Transport Malta allowed the data loggers to be attached to one of their offshore buoys.

The ultimate goal of this research is to collect water column datasets over several years to detect physico-chemical and biological trends and phenomena. The data is being collected as part of the Tropical Signals research project of the International Commission for the Scientific Explor-ation of the Mediterranean Sea (CIESM) (www.ciesm.org/tropicalization).

The University’s Department of Biology is responsible for the biological and assessments aspects of Malta’s participation in the project, while the PO Unit provides the support to collect and interpret physical data.

The academic staff engaged in this work include are Aldo Drago, Alan Deidun and Adam Gauci from the PO Unit, and Patrick Schembri from the Department of Biology.

The University’s participation in the project is partly funded by CIESM through a grant from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

Last week, the PO Unit also deployed three lagrangian sea drifters five kilometres to the north of Gozo. The drifters consist of a surface buoy and a subsurface drogue, which senses sea currents measured from different positions of the buoys using real-time satellite tracking.

The survey is seeking to measure the direction and strength of sea surface currents and sea surface temperature to obtain information to set up a jellyfish dispersion model, which would predict the dispersion of a jellyfish bloom in local waters once it is sighted offshore, thus acting as an early warning system.

The tracking of the drifters can be viewed in real time on a web interface, based on Google Earth. The system is expected to be implemented by the end of 2014.

These activities form part of the Med-Jellyrisk Consortium project, which the Department of Biology and PO Unit are taking part in, led by Adriana Vella and Dr Deidun respectively. The physical oceanography aspects of the activities by the Maltese partners are led by Prof. Drago, with the participation of Dr Deidun, Joel Azzopardi and Mr Gauci.

The project, which includes four other partner institutes from Italy, Spain and Tunisia, is funded under the ENPI-CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme 2007-2013, and co-financed by the EU.

For further information about such physical aspects of the project, e-mail Dr Deidun on alan.deidun@um.edu.mt.

http://jellyrisk.eu