NEWS The Swedish Research Council has decided to grant a national Swedish project where environmental monitoring buoys that continuously measure e g salinity, temperature and nutrients will be distributed along the Swedish coast. This governmental investment will have positive implications for Ecochange, especially theme 4, which focuses on support for marine monitoring.
Behind the environmental monitoring buoy system project stand five Swedish marine organisations, where the Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences at Gothenburg University is the main applicant. Umeå University is part of the project through Umeå Marine Sciences Centre and Linnaeus University through the Department of Natural Sciences in Kalmar, both being central participants in Ecochange.
The main goal in Ecochange research theme 4 is to evaluate the possibilities of using automated environmental buoys as supplements to the environmental monitoring cruises, which, due to extremely high costs, are carried out less than once per month. A close cooperation will therefore develop between Ecochange and this new infrastructure project.
– I'm very glad that the infrastructure project was realized now. Theme 4 in Ecochange has a very limited budget, which does not permit any expensive new instruments for environmental monitoring. With this investment Ecochange scientists will be able to collaborate with other scientists in the infrastructure project in order to design and use the monitoring system that will be constructed, says Ulf Båmstedt, leader of theme 4 in Ecochange and one of the co-applicants of the new infrastructure project.
The application comprises 26.1 million SEK. The Swedish Research Council will be discussing the exact amount with the main applicant.
Kontakta Ulf Båmstedt på 090-786 79 88 eller ulf.bamstedt@emg.umu.se.
Editor: Andrea Gillgren