Consortium:

The overall objective of the proposed project is to develop an integrated modeling system for assessment of relative contributions of different processes involved in the mercury cycling in the Mediterranean Basin. It will involve experimental and modeling integrated tasks aimed to investigate key mechanisms that may affect the cycle of mercury within and between the marine environment and the atmosphere. Therefore, the modeling tasks will be supported with ad-hoc integrated atmospheric and water measurements performed at coastal and offshore sites as well as controlled experiments carried out in the laboratories. The integrated modeling system will integrate socio-economic analyses and allow supporting the implementation of the EU Directive on Mercury and EU Framework Water Directive at country and European level.

Specific objectives to be achieved by the proposed study are:

1. To improve our capability to model the fate of Hg in the marine environment and specifically its translocation from one compartment to the other;

2. To assess the qualitative and quantitative relationship between atmospheric input - direct discharges to the sea and cycle of Hg in the marine environment and its re-emission back to the atmosphere;

3. To develop an integrated modeling system to be used in the implementation of the EU Directives;

4. To apply the integrated modeling system for different environmental and socio-economic scenarios for the evaluation of optimal emission reduction strategies and control policies.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives the proposed project is structured in 5 Work Packages, which include:

1. WP-1 on databases that will provide the core of the input data to both atmospheric and water modeling systems as well as to socio-economic analysis;

2. WP-2 on the integrated modeling system, which will include the atmospheric and water modeling system, dynamically coupled. It will provide information on key parameters affecting the fate of mercury and its compounds in marine and atmospheric ecosystems and their interaction at the air-water interface (global cycling);

3. WP-3 on atmospheric and water measurements at coastal and offshore sites that will be used to validate and calibrate the modeling performance. The validation and calibration of the integrated modeling system will be based on rigorous uncertainty analysis and optimization procedures. Results of modeling simulations will represent the basis for the socio-economic analysis tasks;

4. WP-4 on integration of the bio-geochemical models (WP-2) with socio-economic analysis. It will focus on three specific scenarios including the Business As Usual (BAU) scenario, the Policy Target (POT) scenario, and the Deep Green (DEG) scenario. These three scenarios will be based on the recommendations reported in the forthcoming EU Air Quality Directive on Mercury, EU Framework Water Directive (FWD), and international conventions on the protection of the European Seas, and on the needs of other working parties/stakeholders (i.e., fishery, WHO, UNEP). The outcome of these three scenarios will lead to identify the most cost-efficient strategy or/and policy to be adopted/considered at country and European levels in order to meet the targets of the above-mentioned EU Directives and conventions;

5. WP-5 on dissemination of the project results, which will assure an efficient exploitation and interaction with major users.

IETU’s role in the implementation of the project

Polish partner will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Updating the Mercury Emission Inventory (MEI) with special attention to sources in North Africa and Middle East

• Development and set-up of the database (DD) reporting information on past and current Hg releases to marine waters due to direct discharges of Hg contaminated waters from industries and rivers

• Application of the integrated modeling system for three different socio-economic scenarios (BAU, POT, DEG)

• Selection of the coastal site location

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Last modification: 2002-06-24