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A special issue of Elsevier's "Progress in Oceanography"(Volume 46 Nos 2-4 2000, ISSN 0079-6611) was devoted to publications deriving from research carried out under the CINCS project. CINCS was part of the MAST II Mediterranean Targeted Project, which has been hailed as one of the great successes of EU multi-disciplinary transnational co-operative research.

The project was coordinated by the IMBC and involved collaboration with 40 scientists from 7 other laboratories (Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, National Centre for Marine Research, Athens, University of Genova, University of Tromso, Southamptopn Oceanography Centre, University of Crete and the University of Marseilles).

 

The special issue, entitled "Pelagic-Benthic Coupling in the Oligotrophic Cretan Sea" , (guest editors A.Tselepides and T. Polichronaki, Oceanography Dept., IMBC) was a tribute to the high quality of research undertaken in the Eastern Aegean by all the CINCS partners. Researchers from IMBC (Crete) and NCMR (Athens) played a major part in the present publication, being responsible for more than half of the Special Issue's sixteen papers, to which all CINCS partners contributed.

The main goal of the project was to identify and quantify the transfers of shelf and surface derived organic matter to the benthos on a seasonal, bathymetric and interannual basis. Because the Cretan Sea receives almost no terrestrial runoffs, it is one of the most oligotrophic areas in the world. Yet it also behaves like an ocean in miniature. The processes regulating the shelf-slope exchanges are strongly influenced by the local hydrodynamics, bottom topography and sediment resuspension. Assessing benthic biodiversity was a key component of the project and it was intensively studied both on spatial and temporal bases. The papers presented in the Special Issue cover a broad range of topics involving the physical, chemical and biological oceanography of the Cretan Sea.

These papers also provide a series of important insights into the region's environmental processes and deepen our understanding of the special ecosystem and its role in the Eastern Mediterranean.

  1. THE CINCS PROJECT: introduction
    Tselepides A. and Polychronaki T., pp. 85-88

  2. HYDROLOGY AND CIRCULATION IN THE SOUTHERN CRETAN SEA DURING THE CINCS EXPERIMENT (MAY 1994-SEPTEMBER 1995).
    Georgopoulos D., Chronis G., Zervakis V., Lykousis V., Poulos S. and Iona A., pp. 89-112

  3. DISTRIBUTION OF NUTRIENTS AND PARTICULATE ORGANIC MATTER IN RELATION TO THE PREVAILING HYDROGRAPHIC FEATURES OF THE CRETAN SEA (NE MEDITERRANEAN).
    Tselepides A., Zervakis V., Polychronaki T., Danovaro R. & Chronis G., pp.113-142

  4. SEDIMENTOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN THE SOUTHERN MARGIN OF THE CRETAN SEA (NE MEDITERRANEAN)
    Chronis G., Lykousis V., Anagnostou C., Karageorgis A., Stavrakakis S. and Poulos S., pp. 143-162

  5. SUSPENDED PARTICULATE MATTER AND NEPHELOID LAYERS OVER THE SOUTHERN MARGIN OF THE CRETAN SEA (NE MEDITERRANEAN): SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION AND DYNAMICS
    Chronis G., Lykousis V., Georgopoulos D., Zervakis V., Stavrakakis S. and Poulos S., pp.163-185

  6. PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY IN THE OLIGOTROPHIC CRETAN SEA (NE MEDITERRANEAN): SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY
    Psarra S., Tselepides A. and Ingnatiades L., pp 187-204

  7. HETEROTROPHIC BACTERIAL PRODUCTION IN THE CRETAN SEA (NE MEDITERRANEAN)
    Van Wambeke F., Christaki U., Bianchi M., Psarra S. and Tselepides A., pp. 205-216

  8. DOWNWARD FLUXES OF SETTLING PARTICLES IN THE DEEP CRETAN SEA (NE MEDITERRANEAN)
    Stavrakakis S., Chronis G., Tselepides A., Heussner S., Monaco A. and Abbasi A., pp. 217-240

  9. VERTICAL FLUX OF FAECAL PELLETS AND MICROPLANKTON ON THE SHELF OF THE OLIGOTROPHIC CRETAN SEA (NE - MEDITERRANEAN SEA)
    Wassmann P., Ypma J. E., and Tselepides A., p.p 241-258

  10. SEASONAL CHANGES AND BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE LABILE ORGANIC MATTER FLUX IN THE CRETAN SEA
    Danovaro R., Della Croce N., Dell'Anno A., Fabiano M., Marrale D., Martorano D., pp. 259-278

  11. BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF PICO-, NANO- AND MICRO- PARTICULATE ORGANIC MATTER AND BACTERIOPLANKTON BIOMASS IN THE OLIGOTROPHIC CRETAN SEA (NE MEDITERRANEAN)
    Danovaro R., Dell'Anno A., Pusceddu A., Marrale D., Della Croce N., Fabiano M. and Tselepides A., pp. 279-310

  12. ORGANIC MATTER COMPOSITION OF THE CONTINENTAL SHELF AND BATHYAL SEDIMENTS OF THE CRETAN SEA (NE MEDITERRANEAN).
    Tselepides A., Polychronaki T., Marrale D., Akoumianaki I., Dell' Anno A., Pusceddu A. & Danovaro R., pp. 311-344

  13. BACTERIAL RESPONSE TO SEASONAL CHANGES IN LABILE ORGANIC MATTER COMPOSITION ON THE CONTINENTAL SHELF AND BATHYAL SEDIMENTS OF THE CRETAN SEA
    Danovaro R., Marrale D., Dell'Anno A., Della Croce N., Tselepides A. and Fabiano M., pp. 345-366

  14. DYNAMICS OF MEIOFAUNAL ASSEMBLAGES ON THE CONTINENTAL SHELF, AND DEEP-SEA SEDIMENTS OF THE CRETAN SEA (NE MEDITERRANEAN): RELATIONSHIPS WITH SEASONAL CHANGES IN FOOD SUPPLY
    Danovaro R., Tselepides A., Otegui A., and Della Croce N., pp. 367-400

  15. MACROBENTHIC COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OVER THE CONTINENTAL MARGIN OF CRETE (SOUTH AEGEAN SEA, NE MEDITERRANEAN).
    Tselepides A., Papadopoulou N., Podaras D., Plaiti W. & Koutsoubas D., pp. 401-428

  16. DEMERSAL FISH AND MEGAFAUNA ASSEMBLAGES ON THE CRETAN CONTINENTAL SHELF AND SLOPE (NE MEDITERRANEAN): SEASONAL VARIATION IN SPECIES DENSITY, BIOMASS AND DIVERSITY
    Kallianiotis A., Sophronidis K., Vidoris P. and Tselepides A., pp. 429-455

  17. BENTHIC-PELAGIC COUPLING IN THE OLIGOTROPHIC CRETAN SEA
    Duineveld G., Tselepides A., Witbaard R., Bak R.P.M., Berghuis E.M., Nieuwland G., van der Weele J. and Kok A., pp. 457-480

 

 

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