Over the 13-16 September 2021, a team of scientists across six international institutes from UK, Portugal, Spain and South Africa (PML, MARE/FC.ID, CSIC, IPMA, ULPGC, CSIR) gathered online for the kick-off meeting of an exciting new project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA): PRIMary productivity in Upwelling Systems (PRIMUS). We are now finally launching PRIMUS website which will serve as an updated online platform to share the aims and evolution of our project.
Why are we interested on how biology and physics interact in EBUS?
Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems, or EBUS, are some of the most productive marine ecosystems in the modern ocean. Despite occupying a very small portion of the global ocean volume (< 1%), EBUS produce up to 10% of the global marine net primary production (NPP) and support around 25% of the total worldwide fisheries. While playing such a crucial role in the cycling of carbon, oxygen, and nutrients in the global ocean, EBUS are also susceptible to environmental threats from human pressure and climate change.
The PRIMUS team during the kick-off meeting in mid September 2021.
Based on very high-quality Earth Observation (EO) data combined with in-situ observations and ocean circulation modelling, the aim of PRIMUS is to crucially contribute to advance our existing understanding of net primary productivity (NPP) in Atlantic EBUS, while creating and implementing adaptive management strategies to deal with the ecological and socio-economic effects of such threats.
During the meeting, project leader Steve Groom (PML) welcomed everyone, and each team member presented their role in the project, including nine Science Cases focused on the Iberian, Canary and Benguela upwelling regions, through which PRIMUS will address science questions of relevance to EBUS.
Check our website to know more about our project. And stay tuned for more updates in the upcoming months!
Here is the distribution of the mean Chl-a concentrations in the the Atlantic EBUS regions which are being investigated within PRIMUS: Canary Current System, including the Iberian upwelling region (Galicia and the Portuguese coast) and the region offshore NW Africa; and the Benguela Current System (image produced and downloaded from ESA OC CCI).