MTP-II MATER

MTP-II MATER is the acronym of the marine research project Mediterranean Targeted Project II-Mass Transfer and Ecosystem Response^[1] and was funded by the European Commission's Marine Science and Technology Programme (MAST-III) from 1996 to 1999 (MAS3960051).^[2]

The main goal devoted to three subbasins - Western Mediterranean, Adriatic/Ionian and Aegean/Levantine, in the Mediterranean Sea was:

to study and quantify the triggering and controlling processes of mass and energy (water ans its dissolved and particulate matter) transfer (transport and transformation) between the different compartments and in contrasting environments (from eutrophic to oligotrophic, from shelf to basins),
to appraise the time and space scales of the phenomena, in identified structures of the Mediterranean system (basin and subbasin, mesoscale and submesoscale),
to investigate the ecosystem response to these transfers and its evolution with time, from short-term to long-term through seasonal and interannual, as recorded in the water masses, in the biological communities and in the sediment.

The project included 58 research groups from 10 European member states and 3 non-EU states. The project was coordinated by Pierre Marie Lehucher at the Cabinet d'Etudes Techniques Industrielles et d'Innovations Scientifiques, Aix-en-Provence, France.

References

^ Monaco, A; S Peruzzi (2002-06-01). "The Mediterranean Targeted Project MATER—a multiscale approach of the variability of a marine system—overview". Journal of Marine Systems (Elsevier Science) 33-34: 3–21. doi:10.1016/S0924-7963(02)00050-7.
^ "Mediterranean Targeted Project II-Mass Transfer and Ecosystem Response". Cordi RTD-Projects. European Communities. 2004-12-29. http://cordis.europa.eu/data/MSS_PROJ_FP4_ES_ES/ACTIONeqDndSESSIONeq4607200595ndDOCeq6ndTBLeqEN_PROJ.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-16. Project description in CORDIS archive