United Kingdom: projects/activities

Directory entires that have specified United Kingdom as the primary or lead country for the project/activity and are included in the AMAP, ENVINET, SAON and SEARCH directories. To see the full list of countries, see the countries list. The specified country may not be the geographic region where the activity is taking place - to select a geographic region, see the list of regions.

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Displaying: 1 - 8 of 8
1. Environmental sensitivity of cold water corals

Distribution • What is the current distribution of coral colonies in the North Sea? • Where are coral colonies located on the structures? • Do any colonies show evidence of exposure to drill cuttings? Monitoring & Environmental Recording • What hydrodynamic regime and levels of suspended particulate material are coral colonies exposed to? • Does the coral skeleton retain an archive of any past contamination? • Does skeletal growth vary over time and does this correlate with any past contamination? • How variable is the rate of coral growth and does this correlate with any environmental variables? Environmental Sensitivity • What effect does increased sediment load have on coral behaviour and physiology? • What effect does exposure to discharges (e.g. cuttings and produced water) have on coral behaviour and physiology? • Are such exposures realistic in the field?

Shelf seas Biological effects Pollution sources Environmental management Contaminant transport Petroleum hydrocarbons Oceanography Biodiversity Local pollution Ecosystems
2. The Effects of Turbidity on Marine Fishes

(a) To assemble and further develop an integrative methodology for in situ evaluation of the effects of turbidity and hypoxia on fish physiological and/or behavioural performance. (b) To determine experimentally the threshold values beyond which oxygen and turbidity levels are liable to alter fish physiological and/or behavioural performance. (c) To integrate the results obtained in a conceptual and predictive model. Main expected achievements: [1] establishment of a link between laboratory studies, studies in mesocosms and field studies, using the most advanced techniques for monitoring behaviour in various environmental conditions. [2] an understanding of the impact of water turbidity and oxygenation on three major components of the behavioural repertoire of fish: habitat selection, predator-prey interactions and schooling-aggregation. [3] Predictive ability for the effect of the environmental variables studied on ecologically relevant behaviour.

Shelf seas Biological effects Fish Environmental management Local pollution Food webs
3. Development of monitoring guidelines and modelling tools for environmental effects from Mediterranean aquaculture (MERAMED)

1. To undertake a review of procedures used in the regulation and monitoring of marine cage fish farms in Norway, Scotland and elsewhere to be used as the basis for creating an appropriate set of protocols, monitoring systems and techniques for the control of such farms in Mediterranean conditions 2. To carry out a field research programme to provide appropriate data on the environmental impact of marine cage fish farms in a range of conditions in the eastern Mediterranean. 3. To develop a predictive model to simulate the environmental response at Mediterranean sea cage farms to differing cage stocking levels and feeding regimes. This will be designed as a management tool for both the industry and regulatory authorities.

Biological effects Sources Aquaculture Mapping Discharges Pollution sources Environmental management Contaminant transport Modelling Local pollution Sediments Ecosystems
4. Oceanographic Applications to Eutrophication in Regions of Restricted Exchange (OAERRE)

1. Observations of the physics of vertical and open boundary exchange in Regions of Restricted Exchanges (REEs), leading to improved parameterisation of these processes in research and simplified models. 2. Study of the phytoplankton and pelagic micro-heterotrophs responsible for production and decomposition of organic material, and of sedimentation, benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling, in RREs, with the results expressed as basin-scale parameters. 3. Construction of closed budgets and coupled physical-biological research models for nutrient (especially nitrogen) and organic carbon cycling in RREs, allowing tests of hypotheses about biogeochemistry, water quality and the balance of organisms. 4. Construction of simplified 'screening' models for the definition, assessment and prediction of eutrophication, involving collaboration with 'end-users', and the use of these models to analyse the costs and benefits of amelioration scenarios.

Pathways Biological effects Sources Catchment studies Spatial trends Pollution sources Environmental management Contaminant transport Local pollution Sediments Temporal trends Ecosystems Eutrophication
5. BIOFiltration & AQuaculture: an evaluation of hard substrate deployment performance with mariculture developments

1. To quantify the effectiveness of the biofilters in reducing the impacts of mariculture across Europe from both an economic and environmental perspective. 2. To determine the best design and placements of the biofilters, accounting for differences in geography, hydrology, nutrient input etc. between countries. 3. To examine the environmental and regulatory options governing the use of the biofilters at the end of their life-span and to provide detailed economic analyses of biofilter use compared to existing filtration methods.

Biological effects Fish Discharges Pollution sources Environmental management Contaminant transport Modelling Local pollution Food webs Sediments Diet Ecosystems
6. Molecularly impregnated polymer based sensors for environmental and process monitoring

The project aims to develop Molecular Imprinted Polymer (MIP)sensors into practical tools for the monitoring of a number of pollutants listed in the EU Water Framework Directive. (Further details in commercial confidence)

Heavy metals Discharges Spatial trends Pollution sources Environmental management Contaminant transport Local pollution Geochemistry Temporal trends
7. A new generation of biocides for control of fish lice in fish farms and biofilms on submerged materials

1. To develop a system of photoactive biocides for treating sea lice and biofouling (Further details in confidence)

Biological effects Mapping Fish Discharges Environmental management Contaminant transport Modelling Exposure Photosensitisation Local pollution Pesticides Photodynamic Marine mammals
8. Halocarbons in the atmosphere

The objectives are: 1. to monitor in near-real time the levels of a whole suite of halocarbons (both biogenic and anthropogenic) ranging through CFCs, HCFCs, and HFCs using an adsorption/desorption system coupled to a GC/MS system not using liquid cryogens. 2.The system will be installed (April 2000) at the Ny-Alesund, Zeppelin Research Station and will be operated and owned by NILU (Dr. N.SChmidbauer). 3. Comparisons will be made with the data obtained (since Oct. 1994) on similar compounds from the Mace Head (Ireland) station which uses similar instrumentation, and the Jungfraujoch Station (Jan 2000) operated by EMPA (Dr. Stefan Reimann). 4. Data will be compared to the Southern Hemisphere data collected at Cape Grimm, Tasmania by CSIRO (Dr. P. Fraser) 5. Data will be used to model the dispersion of the halocarbons in the high latitudes and possible consequences for radiative forcing.

Atmospheric processes Sources Long-range transport Contaminant transport Climate change Halocarbons Emissions Anthropogenic Arctic Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Local pollution Atmosphere Biogenic